Equipment Review and Discussion :: Best canister filter?

[VeipaCray]

Gabloo: cool. You couldn't have gone wrong with either filter. The fx5 is a beast, your turtle will love his clean home.

[Ashley]

I cannot wait to get this filter!!!!
I need to know....
What media and how much would I need?
What about other things the filter might need? Filter pads?

[VeipaCray]

If you look in my signature there's a link to my build thread. In that thread I describe what media I used and in which basket.


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I ended up setting up the FX5 filter like this:

Top basket: One box Fluval BioMax, One 250mL bottle of Seachem Purigen in a Fluval Media bag, One Fluval FX5 blue fine filter pad on top

Middle basket: Two boxes Fluval BioMax

Bottom basket: Two boxes Fluval BioMax

[Ashley]

Wow! This is going to be expensive!
Does it need all of that right away?

[VeipaCray]

No, I suppose you could half the biological filtration and add more later. You could do a bag of carbon instead of purigen; it's much less expensive but it will need to be replaced. The purigen is nice because it's a few bucks up front and you can clean and reuse it over and over. You don't NEED purigen OR carbon, but it really is great for keeping the water crystal clear and removing any odors. My turtle is messy like Miss Bowser and food scraps, waste, shredded plant matter etc all lead to odor.

You could also choose less expensive biological filtration media. Pot scrubbies would work but they have much less surface area than the spun glass bio rings or nuggetts. There's also a brand called "Azoo" online that are less expensive spun glass...

Purigen:
http://www.fosterandsmithaquatics.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3578+4136+4190&pcatid=4190

Azoo Bio media:
http://www.fosterandsmithaquatics.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3578+4136+20440&pcatid=20440

[Ashley]

I just ordered a Fluval FX5, brand new with a box of carbon and some polishing pads for $237.00 with free shipping on ebay.

[VeipaCray]

Make sure the carbon you got comes in or with a media bag. You cannot use loose media in the fx5 per the instructions. You'll need a media bag or two (petsmart has them for 99 cents).

[Ashley]

I will! We've bought media bags before for carbon and they're a big necessity!

[Ashley]

The filter is here! It took less than 48 hours from the time of shipment to receive it.
Too bad the siphon won't be here until next week...
I plan on putting the tank on the other side of my room, which involves moving furniture all around.
The siphon would really help, but I'm very impatient and will probably set things up on Friday.

[VeipaCray]

Post pictures of your new setup when you can! Miss Bowser is going to love her new FX5 housekeeping service.

[Ashley]

Quick question!
Since it won't fit on the stand under the tank, is it ok to put it directly on the carpet on the floor next to the tank?

[VeipaCray]

Yes. When you do canister cleanings, you may get a little dribble from the hose / canister body. You might consider like a rubber shoe mat or something to put under the canister to catch any dribbles. The aquastop valves are great, but not perfect - like any other canister.

When you start the FX5 for the first time, it will run for a minute then shut off then restart. Upon restarting it will be loud for like 10-15 minutes as it works the air out of the system. The FX5 will quiet down and stay quiet after that.

[Ashley]

We just got one of those mats for office chairs and such, only to realize that I already had some flimsy plastic mats for my car that I never used. LOL
Oh well, we'll just cut this down to size.
Now to begin the long process of draining and refilling the tank.
Darn python is in town but not delivered yet, and won't be here until Monday at the earliest. Nice.

[Ashley]

The new filter is set up!
Thanks to some help from my dad, who measured and cut the hoses just right.
Although at first he put the intake and output hoses on the wrong parts of the canister...and when we went to fix it we had a huge mess on our hands!
We unplugged the filter, but it was siphoning water into the hoses from the tank still, so when my dad removed the hoses we had water GUSHING out onto the floor. He quickly found the stop valve and luckily it was clean water on the floor.
So your suggestion of a floor mat did help keep the carpet from getting too soaked!

Anyway, Bowser is still adjusting to the tank being moved to the other side of the room and to the strong current of the new filter.
So far so good!
We put 5 boxes of biomedia, some carbon in a media bag, plus the polishing pads.

[VeipaCray]

You only need one polishing pad and on the top media basket. The polishing pad will be the first thing to clog the filter. It's easiest to clean and replace if it's the topmost thing in the filter.